Leap Year, Christopher Columbus, and A Good Lesson from A Bad Example

Amid all the Leap Year hoopla today, there’s this from Fiona Keating in today’s International Business Times —

“In order to gain the trust of the indigenous people of Jamaica, Christopher Columbus used the lunar eclipse on February 29, 1504, to trick them.

“The local chiefs had stopped helping his crew with the food and provisions they had been supplying.

“Columbus warned them that God was going to punish them by painting the moon red.

“During the eclipse, Columbus said God would end the punishment if they cooperated.

“The chiefs capitulated and agreed to give them supplies, and saw that the lunar eclipse had ended.”

— It’s long been said that knowledge is power. May you and I use what we know to help others rather than tricking them out of the things of life.

And let’s never use God as a weapon.